POLITICS
Alex Tsai moving to China
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday said he is leaving to serve as chairman of an automobile company based in China’s Jiangsu Province. The former lawmaker said he had told KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) earlier this year of his intention to resign and is scheduled to leave his post at the end of this month to serve as chairman of Min’an Automobile Co. The firm is a joint venture of Taiwan’s Minth Group and China’s Huai’an Development Holding Co, with paid-in capital of US$130 million. Hung on Thursday was welcomed by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) in Nanjing, before heading to Huai’an yesterday for the company’s opening of a new energy research and development center. Hung is to address a cross-strait forum tomorrow, as well as meet with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference chairman Yu Zhengsheng (俞正聲) while in China.
ENVIRONMENT
City expands bag program
New Taipei City is expanding its plastic shopping bag ban trial program, with 330 stores to stop selling plastic shopping bags starting next month, and 2,630 stores expected to take part by October, an official at the city’s Department of Environmental Protection said. The trial program started last month with 21 stores participating, after the Environmental Protection Administration in April announced that starting next year, all hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores may no longer offer plastic bags for free. Department section chief Sun Chung-wei (孫忠偉) said the policy would become mandatory from next year, requiring that hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores can only sell plastic bags that can be reused as certified garbage bags. Any store found to be in violation will be fined, he said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Music festival to be held
A music festival to promote the Golden Melody Awards and local music businesses is to take place in Taipei from Wednesday to Friday next week, featuring a variety of music performances, conferences and exhibitions. The festival is to feature 12 performances by solo artists and bands, as well as lectures, conferences, exhibitions, music workshops and a platform for cross-music industry collaboration, the organizers said. The annual festival attracts music industry representatives and buyers from Japan, the US and European countries, Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said, adding that this year, to expand the festival’s reach and foster greater cooperation among Asian pop music industries, representatives and buyers from Southeast Asian nations — including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia — have been invited to attend. The Golden Melody Awards ceremony is to be held in the Taipei Arena on Saturday next week.
DIPLOMACY
Lee thanks S African envoy
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) on Thursday presented outgoing South African Representative to Taiwan Musawenkosi Norman Aphane with a medal in recognition of his efforts to promote relations between the two nations. Lee thanked Aphane for his invaluable contribution to advancing cooperation in agriculture, trade and technology. Lee said he hoped Aphane would continue to help strengthen bilateral relations after he returns home. Aphane was awarded the Friendship Medal of Diplomacy in recognition of his contributions to the development of bilateral relations, the ministry said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all